Tag Archive: Cuesta Grade

Huell Howser had what many would consider a dream job, travel, access to interesting places. He was producer and host of a series of shows that highlighted the nature and history of California. He made the most of his opportunities throughout the state with a sense glee that put his subjects at ease and made …

There are several roads in the county with the moniker Stage Coach Road, echos of a more romantic era of travel. That is if you equate romance with grit, smell, jolting and danger. This advertisement from the San Luis Tribune – shortly after the nation’s centennial – outline the joys of land transportation in 1876. …

One of the Southern Pacific’s last major routes constructed was on the Coast Line between Ellwood and Santa Margarita. The railroad, founded as the Central Pacific in 1861 did not arrive in San Luis Obispo until 1894 and did not complete a San Francisco to Los Angeles Coast route until 1901. Further construction revised the …

The year dawned with news of American and Philippine troops trying to hold ground against repeated attacks. Manila and the naval base at Cavite fell into Japanese hands as Allied troops formed a line at the top of Bataan Peninsula. This and the fortified island of Corregidor would deny use of Manila Bay to the …

The Thompson Bridge Company of San Fransisco was at Stenner Creek, building a structure that caused sense of wonder in the little cow county. People would drive out from San Luis Obispo in their horse and buggy or walk from town to see the magnificent structure take shape. They would see steel being lifted into …

They had to find the bridge before they could build it. After the tunnels had been carved into the Santa Lucia the Southern Pacific railroad snaked down the Grade to the foot of the mountain range where it makes a 180 degree turn known as the horseshoe. To maintain elevation the railroad had to span …

It is a bit of a tossup, kids today are presented with difficult choices but end of the 19th century had it’s share of danger. Morning Tribune editor Benjamin Brooks was surveying the railroad construction on Cuesta Grade when he came across this story. The story begins, as it often does, with boys looking for …

San Luis Obispo was not always known as the happiest place In America. Turn the clock back to 1894 and the town of about 3,000 was seen through a different lens. Rural, isolated, no colleges, no military bases, no state prison, no oil development, no major railroad San Luis Obispo was lagging behind other fast …

OLD CUESTA ROAD–A photo from the California Division of Highways — now Caltrans — which once reported 71 hazardous curves on the highway north of San Luis Obispo. The auto road was built in 1915 and improved in 1923, the photo is from about 1922. Small government advocates would love to turn the clock back …

I have written about my travails while traveling on Cuesta Grade. Since the time of the horse and buggy crossing the Santa Lucia Range has been an adventure. Some incidents are major, others minor, here these California Highway Patrol officers lost two tires to the road. This photo was published Monday August 27, 1979. Here …